Help us win Medicaid expansion on August 4

Medicaid expansion will be on the ballot in Missouri on Tuesday, August 4.

Health Forward has long recognized that a lack of insurance is a critical barrier to health. As such, Health Forward has been proud to lead efforts to place the decision to expand Medicaid before Missouri voters. It’s a decision that has the potential to improve the state’s health and its bottom line.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak and the ongoing public health crisis, ensuring that Missourians have access to health care was the right thing to do. Now more than ever, a YES vote on Amendment 2 is the obvious path forward.

As it now stands, far too many Missourians who earn less than $18,000 a year find themselves slipping through the cracks of our health care system, unable to afford care for themselves or loved ones. The coverage gap includes thousands of uninsured veterans and their families, those nearing retirement, working moms who don’t have access to preventive care, and other hardworking Missourians whose jobs don’t provide health insurance.

Medicaid expansion would make our families healthier, our communities safer, and our economy stronger. The estimated 230,000 Missourians who would benefit include those on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak: essential low-wage workers in grocery stores, delivery drivers, and home health aides in nursing homes, hospitals, and elsewhere.

Expanding Medicaid in Missouri is both a vital forward step in our ongoing effort to eliminate disparities in health care access and a critical next step on the road to economic recovery.

Thanks to each of you who are already supporting the campaign for Medicaid expansion. With less than seven weeks until the August statewide primary, the hard work begins. We need your help to keep up our momentum and spread our message all across Missouri.

In order to maximize the campaign’s impact, we need your assistance in getting the word out to your staff, patients, and clients as election day nears. At the YesOn2.org website, you can become a supporter or a volunteer, sign up to receive campaign updates, make a donation, share a health care story, or make an organizational endorsement.

To win this campaign, we need to build a movement of Medicaid expansion advocates. You can help by signing up as part of the Yes On 2 campaign.

Thank you for standing with us in the fight to make health care affordable for those most in need. Let’s get this done on August 4 by voting “Yes on 2”!